Exam question 3 · Today, tomorrow, now, later

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the parental utterance "yǐhòu zài shuō"?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: parental utterance

This is exam question 3 of lesson 21 «Today, tomorrow, now, later» of the Chinese street course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: the test at school.

The question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 utterance	det
10	parental	parental	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 utterance	amod
11	utterance	utterance	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 yǐhòu	punct
13	yǐhòu	yǐhòu	X	Foreign=Yes	15 shuō	discourse
14	zài	zài	X	Foreign=Yes	13 yǐhòu	flat
15	shuō	shuō	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 utterance	conj
16	"	"	PUNCT	_	15 shuō	punct
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the parental utterance and shuō				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

It is an unconditional grant of permission for the request

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 grant	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 grant	cop
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 grant	det
4	unconditional	unconditional	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 grant	amod
5	grant	grant	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 permission	case
7	permission	permission	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 grant	nmod
8	for	for	ADP	_	10 request	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 request	det
10	request	request	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 permission	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a unconditional grant				of permission for the request	tree rules

Option 2

It is a greeting upon arrival

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 greeting	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 greeting	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 greeting	det
4	greeting	greeting	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	6 arrival	case
6	arrival	arrival	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 greeting	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a greeting				upon arrival	tree rules

Option 3

It is an enquiry as to the hour

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 enquiry	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 enquiry	cop
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 enquiry	det
4	enquiry	enquiry	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	as	as	ADP	ExtPos=ADP	8 hour	case
6	to	to	ADP	_	5 as	fixed
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 hour	det
8	hour	hour	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 enquiry	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a enquiry			hour		tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It is frequently a courteous deferral amounting to refusal

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 deferral	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 deferral	cop
3	frequently	frequently	ADV	_	6 deferral	advmod
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 deferral	det
5	courteous	courteous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 deferral	amod
6	deferral	deferral	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	amounting	amount	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 deferral	acl
8	to	to	ADP	_	9 refusal	case
9	refusal	refusal	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 amounting	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a courteous deferral				frequently property	tree rules
2	amount	gerund	a courteous deferral not said here					to refusal	vn register-54.1-1 «NP V PP.value»: agent=Theme to refusal=Value

Text: the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (world/data/school/), as the course runner gave them to the student. Trees: Mova's own parse — the en model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chinese-street/21-today-tomorrow-now-later/e3/